‘Uljhan’: A Play by ‘Meerut Rangmanch’
Indiapost News Service
Mr. Rakesh Kapoor founded a group named ‘Rangmanch’ in 1995 in Meerut. It was inactive for some time. Then he and Om Dutt Rajput decided to start it again and it was given a new name – ‘Meerut Rangmanch’. On December 16th, 2021, it’s first ever play was staged- ‘Uljhan’, 90 minutes of comedy.
Mr. Rakesh Kapoor, a model, a great photographer, video maker, writer, podcaster, karaoke Singer, Stage, Film & TV Artist, admin of ‘Golden Agers’, ‘Meerut Ke Matwale’ ‘Battakh’ ‘Meerut Rangmanch’ WhatsApp groups, who is also the present Secretary of FISA (Fremont Indo-American Seniors Association), helped in successful staging of a play ‘Uljhan’ back home in Meerut, India.
‘Uljhan’ was a great hit and soon became the talk of the town. All the artists acted incredibly well. Om Dutt Rajput as Banarsi and Surender Sharma as Prabhu Dayal and Vishal Gaur as Pran Nath were excellent in their roles. They were able to bring laughter on the faces of the audience. Seema Samar as Malkin Chachi (Janki) and Juhi Tyagi as Shakuntla Sood performed splendidly and delivered their dialogues fluently. Sarvesh Sisodia as Nanak Chand, Bharat Bhushan Sharma as Sita Ram,Sanjiv Kardamwal as Narain Singh, Shahid Gauri as Jumma Khan and Mayank Vaidya as Postman also did justice to their roles.
‘Uljhan’ was written by ace play-writer Ramesh Mehta and directed by our General Secretary, Om Dutt Rajput, with the star cast of 11 artists on stage and 6 technicians backstage. The direction of Rajput was perfect and he was able to adjust all the characters into the story very well. It was staged in the biggest auditorium of Meerut named “Choudhary Charan Singh Auditorium” of Ch. Charan Singh University (Formerly known as Meerut University). The stage was successfully managed by the very talented, winner of many prestigious National & International awards, none other than Veena Arora,along with notable writer, ex-State Banker, Phd in Hindi and winner of many National & International awards Dr. Ram Gopal Bhartiya. Mukesh Tiwari, noted musician, controlled the background scores, Sambahav Samar, controlled Stage Lighting;Abhijit Khanna & Rajat Batra Stage Setting; Surender Sharma, renowned theater artist of Meerut, Costumes and Abid Saifi, Make-up.
Thegroup has given respect to veteran artists by honoring them or giving awards associated with their names like, ‘Dada Samiran Neogi Lifetime Achievement Award’ a great artist and thorough gentleman and a genius director of Meerut Theater. Theartists, Hari Prakash Sharma “Haulat”, Surrender Kaushik, Surender Sharma, Om Dutt Rajput, Shankar Dey, Ashok Mehra, Anirudh Goel, Anuj Sharma for Theatrical Activities, Rana Pratap Singh and Dinesh Gupta for Best Musician, Pintu Mishra for Best Fine Art, Mukesh Tiwari and Anil Dewan for Singing, Girish Thapar for Film and Television, Alok Sisodia for Media were honored with this award.
The other prestigious Award was given in the name of Mr. Rakesh Kapoor’s wife, ‘Neeloo Kapoor’. She was a great support for him from the beginning of his life on stage since modeling and then in theater and television. Without her support he would have not been able to achieve these goals. So in memory of her ‘Neeloo Kapoor Excellence Award’was given for the artists who have done a lot in their field but not recognized properly. The following artists were awarded,Garima Agarwal for Film & Television, Seema Samar, Juhi Tyagi for Theatrical Activities, Veena Arora Best in Literature and Theater, Neelam Mehta for Best Bhajan & Gazal Singer, Dr. Asha Anand for Best Fine Art, Dr. Bhavna Grover for Best Kathak Artist.
Meerut Rangmanch group has many celebrities like Garima Agarwal, Girish Tapar, Surender Sharma, Pintu Mishra, Neelam Mehta, Dr. Bhavna Grover, Mukesh Tiwari and others contributing to the group of more than 60-65 people from different art forms.
The group is grateful for the support of their International Patrons such as Dr. Rama Nand Prasad, Dr. Virender Singh, Mr. Amrit Chugh, Mr Avinash Malik, Mr. Girdha Sharda, Mrs. Prem Agarwal, Mr Naresh Chopra, Mrs. Mamta Sinha, and Mr Ram Malik.
Likewise, the following patrons’ support is also appreciated. Mr. Rajender Agarwal, MP (Meerut-Hapur), Mr. Vivek Shekhar (Manohar Lal Sarraf), Shashi Agarwal (Chulha Chowka) and Adv. Sajender Dublish.
The Chief Guests for this play were, MLA Somender Tomar from Meerut Region, Vice Chancellor S.K Taneja, Ch. Charan Singh University, and the Chairman was Mr. Neeraj Sharma, a Noted, Voice Artist, and Actor, Director & Producer of TV Shows. Garima Agarwal is the brand ambassador for the group.
‘Meerut Rangmanch’ group applauded the President, Mr. Sanjay Sharma, Treasurer Umesh Kapoor and Vice-Presidents Mr. Alok Agarwal and Viresh Sharma, for their endless support and valuable time to make this event a grand success.
